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Michelle DiGiacomo ordered weed from a
California grower to help relieve chronic pain. She says that landed
her in a more painful situation than she ever could have imagined

On September 13, Chicago police stormed a two-bedroom apartment in North
Center and arrested 52-year-old Michelle DiGiacomo, who lived there
with her 14-year-old daughter. They tossed the apartment, cuffed
DiGiacomo, and hauled her off in a squad car. DiGiacomo recalls her
daughter screaming as the police led her away, "Please! She's all I've
got!"

DiGiacomo would later write her many friends, describing the night she
spent in jail: "I shared a cell with a woman who had severely beaten her
grandchild. She attempted to get in my bed to stay warm. She told me
that's how you do it in prison."

DiGiacomo is accused of ordering nearly 1.5 pounds of marijuana from a
grower in California. The package was FedExed to a UPS storefront in
North Center, and the cops were all over the shipment. Sergeant B.
Williams (the initial is his preference) of the CPD's Package
Interdiction Team tells me a drug dog sniffed the pot at some point in
the package's journey, a warrant was issued, the package was opened and
the contents confirmed, another warrant was issued, and the FedEx truck
that delivered the pot to the UPS store actually had an interdiction
team officer at the wheel. When DiGiacomo picked up the package,
investigators followed her to her home a few blocks away, and within
minutes they were barreling inside. Under Illinois law, the amount of
marijuana with which she's charged is considered a Class 3 felony
punishable by two to five years in prison. The street value of that much
pot, Sergeant Williams says, is over $10,000.

Let's walk the story back ten years.

In the late 90s advice columnist Jeff Zaslow ran a high-profile letters-to-Santa campaign in the Sun-Times. In 2001 the Sun-Times (this was the Conrad Black-David Radler era) decided to can him—so he jury-rigged a program involving Chicago magazine and the Spanish-language radio station WLEY and came up with gifts for about 17,000 kids that year.

Zaslow bowed out in 2002 when he took a job with the Wall Street Journal.
But he kept the flame alive: he turned over his files to Michelle
DiGiacomo. He'd written about her a couple of years earlier when she
asked him for help: there was a 16-year-old bagger at her Dominick's who
had a million-dollar smile and the worst teeth DiGiacomo had ever seen.
The girl desperately needed braces, and DiGiacomo thought a story by
Zaslow might help raise some money for them. It turned out DiGiacomo
found a dentist willing to treat the girl for free, but Zaslow wrote an
article anyway—about DiGiacomo. When Zaslow left town, she agreed to
take over his letters-to-Santa project.

Zaslow once had the Sun-Times behind him; DiGiacomo had just her
husband, Paul Fitzgerald, a developer. He died of cancer in 2008, and
since then she's been on her own, unable to handle more than about
10,000 letters a year. Last February Zaslow was killed in a car
accident, and DiGiacomo, heartbroken, told me how much she'd miss his
cheerleading. "I work out of my home, I rent a mailbox," she said the
time. "I pay for the newsletter. I do all the Web design, pretty much
everything. At Christmas I deliver the letters. I'm on widow's social
security and disability. So I'd love to find somebody who'd sponsor my
charity."

That rented mailbox at UPS came back to haunt DiGiacomo. As Sergeant
Williams would explain, the fact that the package wasn't simply
addressed to DiGiacomo's house made her transaction look all the more
suspicious.

Williams led the raid. Did he hear his target claim it was medical
marijuana? He did. Did it matter? "This is Illinois," he said. "There's
no such thing in Illinois, as cruel as it sounds."

DiGiacomo mixes the marijuana into butters, balms, and tinctures, she
says—preparations that require significantly more weed than if she just
smoked the stuff. "I got a really good deal because it was the end of
the greenhouse season," she says. "I got it for less than $100 an ounce.
So I basically got a year's worth of medication." But she didn't expect
it to be sent to her all at once.

Two of DiGiacomo's doctors have written letters supporting her claim
that she needs the marijuana. "I have been treating you for several
years," wrote rheumatologist Andrew Ruthberg of Rush University Medical
Center, "and can attest to the fact that you have several chronically
painful conditions including Rheumatoid arthritis, a cervical spine
disorder which has required surgical repair, rotator cuff disease
involving both shoulders and a more recent lower back pain
disorder. . . . I fully believe that your use of marijuana has been
solely for the purpose of trying to moderate chronic pain."

Howard An of Rush, the surgeon who performed a cervical spine fusion,
wrote, "Pain is a daily issue. . . . I fully believe that your use of
marijuana has been for the use of controlling your chronic pain."

After that night in jail DiGiacomo was bailed out—a friend posted the
$1,000 deposit—and she faced a tough decision. Her arrest is public
record; her photo had shown up on websites that publish mug shots. And
Christmas is coming. It would be disastrous if her donors and clients
found out what happened from anyone but her. Her lawyer (since replaced)
wanted her to keep her mouth shut and for days she did, but eventually
she e-mailed 800 of her donors and clients a ten-page newsletter that
told her version of the story.

"I have never felt so defeated in all my life," she began. She described
the raid, the night in jail, and the aftermath: "They seized my car as I
had transported my medication in it. . . . My landlord has asked me to
move."

Her landlord gave her 30 days' notice. "With what happened I decided not
to renew the lease," he told me. "It was a really large amount of
marijuana she was arrested for having. It made other tenants feel
insecure."

Representative Lou Lang of Skokie has been writing bills for years to
legalize medical marijuana. He hopes to get his latest—the Compassionate
Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act—through the house in the
lame-duck session at the end of the year. It permits a patient to
legally possess "no more than 2.5 ounces of usable cannabis during a
14-day period." DiGiacomo was charged with possessing nearly ten times
that much.

"I need to find three votes," Lang told me. "I have 93 members of the
house who are for it but only 57 who are willing to vote for it. I think
after the [November] election I might find the three votes to pass the
bill."

DiGiacomo would like to be a face Lang can put on his bill, but she's
not surprised he hasn't returned her calls. That's OK with her, though;
since she sent out her newsletter plenty of people have.

When Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy's son Spencer was seven years old, he
and some pals formed a band called the Blisters. The band took off—dad's
stature obviously helped—and Tweedy's wife, Susan, tells me that eight
years ago the Blisters decided to do a benefit for a local charity.

Susan Tweedy did some research and came up with DiGiacomo's Direct
Effect Charities. "She was doing a socks and underwear drive, which we
thought was perfect," says Susan Tweedy. "The Blisters played a gig at
the Abbey and everyone who came brought socks and underwear. We've done a
lot of different gigs for her since. She's got no backing like other
charities. She does it all herself."

The Tweedys were on the mailing list for DiGiacomo's newsletter, and
last Saturday she got a reply from Spencer Tweedy, now 17. He told her
he'd set up a website
and a PayPal account. The website announces, "Michelle DiGiacomo needs
our help," and declares, "The cost of defending herself against the law
has crippled her more than her diseases ever have. . . . Michelle
DiGiacomo is not a criminal."

DiGiacomo showed up in jeans and a white neck brace for her first court
appearance October 3. The judge ruled the police had probable cause to
arrest her for possession, and afterward she stood shaking in the lobby
wondering out loud what, when the time comes, she could possibly tell a
judge and jury.

"I had it, yes I did," she cried. "I needed it. That's my defense."

Do you believe that medical marijuana is appropriate for chronic pain?

Do you believe it should be legal?

Do you think this lady should go to jail?

How far you go in life depends on your being: tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of both the weak and strong. Because someday in life you would have been one or all of these.GeorgeWashingtonCarver

I am against the so called "medical marijuana" and do not support legalization. IF there is truly medicinal purposes, it should be handled by medical companies, manufactured and dispensed in pill format (or ointment) bt a pharmacist with a prescription.
I believe, regardless how much good she has done in the past, she is a criminal - she violated a law for whatever reason and she should do the time. She knew the law and willfully ignored it. and she got a teen to get band supporters to send her money. Um.... Ok. That wasn't a stretch. Doesn't music bands and drugs go hand in hand typically, at least that is the presumption..,
I do not believe that it should be used for "chronic pain". I am not really convinced chronic pain is real - there is a big part of me that believes it is psychosomatic.

I am a degreed microbiologist and worked in R&D for pharmaceutical companies. I am not just deciding I don't believe, I have read the research and formed my position.

Hi :) I am a chronic pain patient. My pain stems from arthritis that has totally crippled my right knee, is working on my left at a good pace and is literally visible in my hands. How can you not believe in chronic pain. You think my bone spurs and deformities and the process that grows it could be psychosomatic?

Pain that lingers or recurs is chronic. Are you maybe refering to chronic fatigue?

As to your assertion that mj br refined to a pill, There are some issues with that

Marijuana has like 27 canabinoids. These properties are best used by the body when they are permitted to form bonds to a fat like milk or butter. Eating Cannabis in this manner is much better for you than smoking it .

Eating cannabis has so many benefits including anti cancer properties. The addictive properties are less than caffeine. Our society is convinced that chemical drugs are the answer. Just take a pill. I believe that a natural approach is always a better option. In treating my pain i have been prescribed narcotics for daily use. Marijuana is a far better solution than those pills.

You working for a pharmacuetical company doesnt give you credibility in my mind, it may lose you some. Big Pharma does not wish for people to grow their own meds.

Quoting Analeigh2012:

I am against the so called "medical marijuana" and do not support legalization. IF there is truly medicinal purposes, it should be handled by medical companies, manufactured and dispensed in pill format (or ointment) bt a pharmacist with a prescription.
I believe, regardless how much good she has done in the past, she is a criminal - she violated a law for whatever reason and she should do the time. She knew the law and willfully ignored it. and she got a teen to get band supporters to send her money. Um.... Ok. That wasn't a stretch. Doesn't music bands and drugs go hand in hand typically, at least that is the presumption..,
I do not believe that it should be used for "chronic pain". I am not really convinced chronic pain is real - there is a big part of me that believes it is psychosomatic.

I am a degreed microbiologist and worked in R&D for pharmaceutical companies. I am not just deciding I don't believe, I have read the research and formed my position.

How far you go in life depends on your being: tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of both the weak and strong. Because someday in life you would have been one or all of these.GeorgeWashingtonCarver

I support the legalization of all drugs. I believe that adults are capable of making choices about their lives and that they don't need a nanny government to keep them safe.

That being said, WTF did she think was going to happen? I mean, if she was doing it as a form of activism she should have expected the arrest. If she wasn't...she really should have thought that through. There are plenty of ways to buy weed that don't include having over a pound shipped to your house.

I support the legalization of all drugs. I believe that adults are capable of making choices about their lives and that they don't need a nanny government to keep them safe.

That being said, WTF did she think was going to happen? I mean, if she was doing it as a form of activism she should have expected the arrest. If she wasn't...she really should have thought that through. There are plenty of ways to buy weed that don't include having over a pound shipped to your house.

I agree in total. It was a risk. I dont think it should be but it is. Here in Ohio we have decriminalized mj but do not have medical mj either. I would not try to do what she did . Ever.

How far you go in life depends on your being: tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of both the weak and strong. Because someday in life you would have been one or all of these.GeorgeWashingtonCarver

I only said where I worked and what I degrees in to say I understand biochemical responses. Whether you think I have credibility to make an informed decision or not doesn't matter to me. My opinion is my opinion. Arthritis, bone spurs are real medical issues. But are treatable. I do not fully believe "chronic pain" is real - yes, a big part of me thinks it is all psychosomatic. I think people have convinced themselves they have pain and nothing works just so they have an excuse to take pills or smoke / use pot. We just have opposite views. You asked. I answered. You don't like my answer? Shrugs. You are entitled to not like it. I am against making marijuana legal and against using it for "medicinal" purposes.

Quoting survivorinohio:

Hi :) I am a chronic pain patient. My pain stems from arthritis that has totally crippled my right knee, is working on my left at a good pace and is literally visible in my hands. How can you not believe in chronic pain. You think my bone spurs and deformities and the process that grows it could be psychosomatic?

Pain that lingers or recurs is chronic. Are you maybe refering to chronic fatigue?

As to your assertion that mj br refined to a pill, There are some issues with that

Marijuana has like 27 canabinoids. These properties are best used by the body when they are permitted to form bonds to a fat like milk or butter. Eating Cannabis in this manner is much better for you than smoking it .

Eating cannabis has so many benefits including anti cancer properties. The addictive properties are less than caffeine. Our society is convinced that chemical drugs are the answer. Just take a pill. I believe that a natural approach is always a better option. In treating my pain i have been prescribed narcotics for daily use. Marijuana is a far better solution than those pills.

You working for a pharmacuetical company doesnt give you credibility in my mind, it may lose you some. Big Pharma does not wish for people to grow their own meds.

Quoting Analeigh2012:

I am against the so called "medical marijuana" and do not support legalization. IF there is truly medicinal purposes, it should be handled by medical companies, manufactured and dispensed in pill format (or ointment) bt a pharmacist with a prescription.

I believe, regardless how much good she has done in the past, she is a criminal - she violated a law for whatever reason and she should do the time. She knew the law and willfully ignored it. and she got a teen to get band supporters to send her money. Um.... Ok. That wasn't a stretch. Doesn't music bands and drugs go hand in hand typically, at least that is the presumption..,

I do not believe that it should be used for "chronic pain". I am not really convinced chronic pain is real - there is a big part of me that believes it is psychosomatic.

I am a degreed microbiologist and worked in R&D for pharmaceutical companies. I am not just deciding I don't believe, I have read the research and formed my position.

I only said where I worked and what I degrees in to say I understand biochemical responses. Whether you think I have credibility to make an informed decision or not doesn't matter to me. My opinion is my opinion. Arthritis, bone spurs are real medical issues. But are treatable. I do not fully believe "chronic pain" is real - yes, a big part of me thinks it is all psychosomatic. I think people have convinced themselves they have pain and nothing works just so they have an excuse to take pills or smoke / use pot. We just have opposite views. You asked. I answered. You don't like my answer? Shrugs. You are entitled to not like it. I am against making marijuana legal and against using it for "medicinal" purposes.

Quoting survivorinohio:

Hi :) I am a chronic pain patient. My pain stems from arthritis that has totally crippled my right knee, is working on my left at a good pace and is literally visible in my hands. How can you not believe in chronic pain. You think my bone spurs and deformities and the process that grows it could be psychosomatic?

Pain that lingers or recurs is chronic. Are you maybe refering to chronic fatigue?

As to your assertion that mj br refined to a pill, There are some issues with that

Marijuana has like 27 canabinoids. These properties are best used by the body when they are permitted to form bonds to a fat like milk or butter. Eating Cannabis in this manner is much better for you than smoking it .

Eating cannabis has so many benefits including anti cancer properties. The addictive properties are less than caffeine. Our society is convinced that chemical drugs are the answer. Just take a pill. I believe that a natural approach is always a better option. In treating my pain i have been prescribed narcotics for daily use. Marijuana is a far better solution than those pills.

You working for a pharmacuetical company doesnt give you credibility in my mind, it may lose you some. Big Pharma does not wish for people to grow their own meds.

Quoting Analeigh2012:

I am against the so called "medical marijuana" and do not support legalization. IF there is truly medicinal purposes, it should be handled by medical companies, manufactured and dispensed in pill format (or ointment) bt a pharmacist with a prescription.

I believe, regardless how much good she has done in the past, she is a criminal - she violated a law for whatever reason and she should do the time. She knew the law and willfully ignored it. and she got a teen to get band supporters to send her money. Um.... Ok. That wasn't a stretch. Doesn't music bands and drugs go hand in hand typically, at least that is the presumption..,

I do not believe that it should be used for "chronic pain". I am not really convinced chronic pain is real - there is a big part of me that believes it is psychosomatic.

I am a degreed microbiologist and worked in R&D for pharmaceutical companies. I am not just deciding I don't believe, I have read the research and formed my position.

How far you go in life depends on your being: tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of both the weak and strong. Because someday in life you would have been one or all of these.GeorgeWashingtonCarver

Also the only treatment available to me is pain management or amputation.

Quoting Analeigh2012:

I only said where I worked and what I degrees in to say I understand biochemical responses. Whether you think I have credibility to make an informed decision or not doesn't matter to me. My opinion is my opinion. Arthritis, bone spurs are real medical issues. But are treatable. I do not fully believe "chronic pain" is real - yes, a big part of me thinks it is all psychosomatic. I think people have convinced themselves they have pain and nothing works just so they have an excuse to take pills or smoke / use pot. We just have opposite views. You asked. I answered. You don't like my answer? Shrugs. You are entitled to not like it. I am against making marijuana legal and against using it for "medicinal" purposes.

Quoting survivorinohio:

Hi :) I am a chronic pain patient. My pain stems from arthritis that has totally crippled my right knee, is working on my left at a good pace and is literally visible in my hands. How can you not believe in chronic pain. You think my bone spurs and deformities and the process that grows it could be psychosomatic?

Pain that lingers or recurs is chronic. Are you maybe refering to chronic fatigue?

As to your assertion that mj br refined to a pill, There are some issues with that

Marijuana has like 27 canabinoids. These properties are best used by the body when they are permitted to form bonds to a fat like milk or butter. Eating Cannabis in this manner is much better for you than smoking it .

Eating cannabis has so many benefits including anti cancer properties. The addictive properties are less than caffeine. Our society is convinced that chemical drugs are the answer. Just take a pill. I believe that a natural approach is always a better option. In treating my pain i have been prescribed narcotics for daily use. Marijuana is a far better solution than those pills.

You working for a pharmacuetical company doesnt give you credibility in my mind, it may lose you some. Big Pharma does not wish for people to grow their own meds.

Quoting Analeigh2012:

I am against the so called "medical marijuana" and do not support legalization. IF there is truly medicinal purposes, it should be handled by medical companies, manufactured and dispensed in pill format (or ointment) bt a pharmacist with a prescription.

I believe, regardless how much good she has done in the past, she is a criminal - she violated a law for whatever reason and she should do the time. She knew the law and willfully ignored it. and she got a teen to get band supporters to send her money. Um.... Ok. That wasn't a stretch. Doesn't music bands and drugs go hand in hand typically, at least that is the presumption..,

I do not believe that it should be used for "chronic pain". I am not really convinced chronic pain is real - there is a big part of me that believes it is psychosomatic.

I am a degreed microbiologist and worked in R&D for pharmaceutical companies. I am not just deciding I don't believe, I have read the research and formed my position.

How far you go in life depends on your being: tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of both the weak and strong. Because someday in life you would have been one or all of these.GeorgeWashingtonCarver

Ugh.
So you really only wanted opinions like yours or you wanted an opinion differing so you could pick a fight. Whatever.
I said - please go back and read - that a big part of me doesn't quite believe in chronic pain. When I read scientific proof it is valid, from all medical sources, proved beyond dispute - I may have the opinion it is a valid medical issue. I won't, however, ever agree marijuana should be legalized.

Quoting survivorinohio:

You really believe chronic pain does not exist?

Many many real medical and physical conditions cause chronic pain. If you fail to acknowledge that fact then what other facts do you fail to acknowledge?

I only said where I worked and what I degrees in to say I understand biochemical responses. Whether you think I have credibility to make an informed decision or not doesn't matter to me. My opinion is my opinion. Arthritis, bone spurs are real medical issues. But are treatable. I do not fully believe "chronic pain" is real - yes, a big part of me thinks it is all psychosomatic. I think people have convinced themselves they have pain and nothing works just so they have an excuse to take pills or smoke / use pot. We just have opposite views. You asked. I answered. You don't like my answer? Shrugs. You are entitled to not like it. I am against making marijuana legal and against using it for "medicinal" purposes.

Quoting survivorinohio:

Hi :) I am a chronic pain patient. My pain stems from arthritis that has totally crippled my right knee, is working on my left at a good pace and is literally visible in my hands. How can you not believe in chronic pain. You think my bone spurs and deformities and the process that grows it could be psychosomatic?

Pain that lingers or recurs is chronic. Are you maybe refering to chronic fatigue?

As to your assertion that mj br refined to a pill, There are some issues with that

Marijuana has like 27 canabinoids. These properties are best used by the body when they are permitted to form bonds to a fat like milk or butter. Eating Cannabis in this manner is much better for you than smoking it .

Eating cannabis has so many benefits including anti cancer properties. The addictive properties are less than caffeine. Our society is convinced that chemical drugs are the answer. Just take a pill. I believe that a natural approach is always a better option. In treating my pain i have been prescribed narcotics for daily use. Marijuana is a far better solution than those pills.

You working for a pharmacuetical company doesnt give you credibility in my mind, it may lose you some. Big Pharma does not wish for people to grow their own meds.

Quoting Analeigh2012:

I am against the so called "medical marijuana" and do not support legalization. IF there is truly medicinal purposes, it should be handled by medical companies, manufactured and dispensed in pill format (or ointment) bt a pharmacist with a prescription.

I believe, regardless how much good she has done in the past, she is a criminal - she violated a law for whatever reason and she should do the time. She knew the law and willfully ignored it. and she got a teen to get band supporters to send her money. Um.... Ok. That wasn't a stretch. Doesn't music bands and drugs go hand in hand typically, at least that is the presumption..,

I do not believe that it should be used for "chronic pain". I am not really convinced chronic pain is real - there is a big part of me that believes it is psychosomatic.

I am a degreed microbiologist and worked in R&D for pharmaceutical companies. I am not just deciding I don't believe, I have read the research and formed my position.

Send me email updates about messages I've received on the site and the latest news from The CafeMom Team.
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